Men's Basketball

Dec. 7, 1999

CHICAGO - Nineteenth-ranked Temple hopes to have point guard Pepe Sanchez back in the fold Wednesday when the Owls battle No. 24 Gonzaga in the Great Eight Classic at the United Center in Chicago.

Sanchez, considered to be one of the best point guards in the nation, has missed the last three games with a sprained right ankle. He's listed as day-to-day and his status will not be determined until just prior to tip-off.

Owls coach John Chaney has seen the difference in his team without its floor leader.

"Pepe has a time clock in his head that's a lot better than the other kids, you really get out of order," Chaney said. "We're headless horsemen (without Sanchez) and you can't get it done in this business."

In his lone game this season, Sanchez totaled nine points, 10 assists and seven steals in a win over Miami of Ohio.

Temple (2-2) comes off a 77-72 loss at Wake Forest on Saturday. Mark Karcher scored a career-high 33 points for the Owls, but needed 33 shots to do so. Lynn Greer added 22 points as he topped 20 for the third straight game.

The Owls, however, endured a miserable first half that resulted in a 26-point deficit.

Greer is averaging a team-high 19.5 points per game while Karcher contributes 17.8 per contest. The Owls are shooting just 36.1 percent from the field and 29.8 percent from 3-point range.

Gonzaga (4-1), a West Region finalist in last season's NCAA tournament, is in the midst of a brutal scheduling stretch. The Bulldogs fell to top-ranked Cincinnati 75-68 on Sunday in the Rock-N-Roll Shootout in Cleveland and, following this game, they play at Pac-10 schools UCLA and Washington before another road date at Idaho.

"For us to get the opportunity to play a high-ranked team like this in a neutral situation is something we just don't get outside of the NCAA tournament," coach Mark Few said. "So from a scheduling standpoint, it's a coup for us."

Richie Frahm scored 16 points, Casey Calvary added 13 and Matt Santangelo 12 for the Bulldogs, who trailed by 20 at halftime and came as close as five in the second half.

Santangelo is averaging 13.8 points and 5.4 assists for Gonzaga, which is making just 30.3 percent of their 3-point shots. Last season, they made 39.9 percent.

This is the first meeting between the schools.